Pierce The Veil

Plus: Woe, Is Me

Koko, Camden London

17.05.13

From basements to 300 capacity rooms in the suburbs, Mexican amigo’s Pierce The Veil are due to make a racket at London’s beanstalk of a venue- Koko. 8 months ago the four-piece from San Diego had Camden’s Underworld printed on their tour flyers. Now triple the crowd capacity and two singles later Pierce The Veil have upped their game with um, confetti cannons?!  

  

Shaking the room with intense fury and aggression, Woe, Is Me lay their cards on the table with new single A Story To Tell. Tonight’s show is apparently sold out but unfortunately for the Atlanta post-hardcore posse it’s a show where most of the fans turn up just in time for the headliners. Most bands would see this as a huge disappointment but Woe, Is Me turn it into an intimate show, using the opportunity to get in their fans faces, spinning pits into full on riots and proving that they can fill a glass half empty with mighty sing-alongs and fist pumps during Fame > Demise and [&] Delinquents. Luck might not be on their side tonight but they supply enough power to put their names in lights. Woe, Is Me are much more than any genre that screams overrated. In fact vocalist Hance Alligood tells the audience during closing song Vengeance; “Okay this is your time to shine” and the irony is that him and his buds are the ones gleaming with huge potential.

One by one the members of Pierce The Veil walk on stage to May These Noises Startle You In Your Sleep, but what neither the audience nor them could ever anticipate for is the adrenaline, the passion and the ecstasy that all kicks off as the confetti cannons explode left, right and centre, while the outburst of Hell Above cracks things up to 11. The feeling of extraordinary rapture runs through Selfish Machines as the quartet revisit fan favourites Disasterology and Bulletproof Love. Singer Vic Fuentes informs the audience “This could be someone’s first show. Or this could be someone’s last. If we all die tomorrow I want to make sure we have a good time tonight”. It’s hard not to recognise the vulnerability in tracks like Hold On Till May, but what makes PTV exceptional is the way they identify with their fans. The way they express moving lyrics and stories then coat them in exquisite and unique rhythms and snake-hip worthy guitar riffs like that in new single Bulls In The Bronx. 

“We got off the US tour, went home for four hours, did some laundry then came over to the UK”, tells Vic before pointing out bassist and birthday boy Jaime Preciado and his broken leg. Slowing the night down with an acoustic rendition of I’m Low On Gas And You Need A Jacket, tonight is a prime example of just how much music matters and in this case it’s mutual. “Who can say music saved their lives? I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the band or any of you” explains Vic. But putting emotions to one side, PTV close with the almighty King For A Day, decoding the word gig and instead making tonight more like a family reunion. So whether it is someone’s first show, last show or their birthday, they sure as hell went away knowing Pierce The Veil will always make room in the family for their fans.